Author: Christopher J. Valentino

A teacher readies her classroom. Photo by Dave Einsel/Getty Images. Eleven educators from across Minnesota were named finalists for the state’s Teacher of the Year award Monday. The award is given each year by Education Minnesota, the statewide teachers union. This year’s finalists were selected from a group of 77 nominees. Teachers with at least five years of experience who work at public or private pre-K-12th grade schools, adult education programs or family education programs can be nominated for the title. A panel of 22 education, business, government and nonprofit leaders will interview the finalists and vote for the Teacher…

Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” was among more than two dozen books removed last month from a school library at Goddard, Kansas, following a challenge by a parent. The books have since been returned to the shelves. Photo by Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector.WASHINGTON — A U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee panel on Thursday examined why thousands of books, predominantly written by marginalized authors, have been banned from public schools, and the impact of those actions on students and teachers. “Most books being targeted for censorship are books that introduce ideas about diversity or our common humanity, books that teach children…

Getty ImagesA proposal to pour $850 million over four years into Minnesota’s struggling child care industry cleared a House committee Thursday. The House early education committee approved a budget bill that seeks to make child care more accessible by boosting aid to families and providers, funded by the state’s projected $9.3 billion budget surplus. The proposal would increase early education spending by about 25% through fiscal year 2025. The child care industry — already in shambles for years — is desperate for help, pushed to the brink by the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 25% of Minnesotans lived in “child care…

The Minnesota Capitol. Photo by Max Nesterak/minnesotadigest.com. A controversial proposal to amend the education clause of Minnesota’s Constitution is likely dead for the third consecutive year after an influential lawmaker said she won’t hold a hearing on it. The “Page Amendment” — championed by former state Supreme Court Justice Alan Page and Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari — won’t receive a hearing in the House Education Policy Committee this session, Rep. Ruth Richardson, DFL-Mendota Heights, told reporters Monday.  Page and Kashkari pitched the amendment as a plan to improve Minnesota’s worst-in-the-nation racial disparities in education. It would replace…

The Minnesota State Capitol building in downtown Saint Paul, with snow on the ground during autumn. Photo by Tony Webster.Minnesota House Democrats are proposing a $3.3 billion increase to state education funding over the next three years.  The sprawling package would use money from the state’s projected $9.3 billion budget surplus to boost spending on mental health, English language instruction and special education services, House DFL leaders announced Monday. It comes just days after the Senate GOP released their education proposal, which calls for $30 million in new spending this year — leaving a $1 billion gulf between the House…

Members of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers sang and played instruments during a rally outside the Minneapolis Public Schools central office on March 14, 2022. Photo by Rilyn Eischens/minnesotadigest.com This story was originally published by The 19th Ma-Riah Roberson-Moody, an education support professional for Minneapolis Public Schools, works two other jobs to make ends meet. The school district doesn’t pay her enough to survive on one salary, she said. Some of her peers are not even able to afford basic necessities. “We have members who have to sleep in their car or are homeless or in transitional housing because we…

St. Paul City Council Member Chris Tolbert introduced a package of changes to the city’s rent control ordinance on Aug. 3, 2022. Photo by Max Nesterak/minnesotadigest.com.The St. Paul City Council took up a sweeping set of rent control changes on Wednesday in its first attempt to address the numerous issues that have arisen since residents passed the ordinance through a citizen-led petition in November. The ordinance is one of the most stringent in the country, capping rent increases at 3% a year for all units across the city, and has led developers to halt construction of new housing and some…

Demonstrators circle the U.S. Bank Plaza in Minneapolis on April 8, 2020, to call for a suspension of rent and mortgage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Max Nesterak/minnesotadigest.com. Minnesota has long touted housing affordability in its efforts to recruit and retain people and industry. Although it still largely holds up, it’s uneven depending on where you live and how much money you make, according to a Reformer analysis of income and housing costs.  For a long time, a rule of thumb for homebuyers was that the total price of your home shouldn’t be more than 2.5 times your annual…

HavenBrook tenants and activists staged a rally outside the New Brighton office of property manager Progress Residential on June 17, 2022 to call on the company to address longstanding health and safety concerns with the homes they rent. Photo by Max Nesterak/minnesotadigest.com. A new U.S. House report details how four corporate landlords resorted to aggressive and deceptive practices to force out tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic, violating state and federal rules aimed at keeping people in their homes during the public health emergency. Together, the four corporate entities filed nearly 15,000 evictions against renters across the country in the first…

A cyclist rides past the almost-complete 21st Street Station in Minneapolis. Part of the Southwest Light Rail project to extend today’s Green Line 14 miles to Eden Prairie via the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes, St. Louis Park, Hopkins, and Minnetonka, completion of the line was recently delayed to 2027 due to challenges building along the chain of lakes. Photo by Henry Pan/minnesotadigest.com.State Rep. Erik Mortensen was the only state lawmaker to vote against a bill to audit the Southwest Light Rail green line extension, which is four years behind schedule and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. He also…